Removal of Cards in Blackjack

If you like to play Blackjack and you want to master your skills in it, you are aware of the fact that statistics has a significant role in this casino game. It is all about probability and chances of getting a card you need to create a blackjack hand and beat the dealer. In this blog post, we will discuss how the removal of cards in Blackjack affects the gameplay.

Number of Decks in Play and Card Removal

We have already discussed how the number of decks in play affects the house edge. The more card decks the higher house edge – you should keep this in mind when choosing a game to play. However, today more and more Blackjack variants use 6 or 8 decks, which makes card counting almost impossible. When it comes to card removal, it is the opposite. The numbers of decks in play less affect players’ expectations as instead of 4 cards of the same value, you play the game with 24 or 32 cards of the same rank.

Although the removal of certain cards that can help you make a blackjack hand still affects your odds, in the grand scheme of things, in multi-deck games its effect is less than in Blackjack variant using a single deck. This explains why single-deck games are better to play. Let’s discuss a few examples that can help you make your decisions at a Blackjack table in future.

It Is All about Expectations

The removal of different cards affects your expectations and advantage over the house in different ways. For instance, when you play a single deck game and all four Aces are dealt, you will not expect them to show up in the next round. Although other cards may not be as important as Aces, the effect of their removal is can be great on your expectations.

To put it simply, if cards of smaller ranks (2, 3, 4, 5 and 6) are dealt and removed from the deck, their removal will have a positive effect on your expectations. In other words, their removal increases your advantage. As for the cards of higher ranks (10, J, Q, K and A), their removal has a negative effect on your expectations. It simply means that odds of creating a blackjack hand when these cards are removed from the deck for the player are lower. Finally, the removal of 7, 8 and 9 has almost no effect on your expectations.

Conclusion

All card counting systems are based on the removal of cards from decks and expectations. If you are not ready to learn and apply any of them, you can keep track of high-rank cards that have been dealt and make your decisions based on them. It is good to know that the more 10s and Aces are left in the deck, the higher odds of winning at a Blackjack table you have. The basic thing you should keep in mind when playing the game of Blackjack is that the removal of small cards increases your advantage over the house while the removal of high-rank cards favours the dealer more.